Hood hinges

My 73 Lifeliner sure could use a better set of hood hinges. At this point Terri and I will be at the Micro-Meet in Flint (unless I get slammed) and if someone happens to have a set in working order and up for sale (or trade) please let me know.

Thanks

Richard
 

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Richard-
FYI.... ALL '71-'74 Cadillac AND Eldorado hinges are interchangeable, per Hollander.
 
First things first. Lift the hood. Have some one push it up as far as they can. The wiggle it up and down 3 -4 inches while you check the hinges for movement. If they are warn out you wil see the moving at the main or center pivot. If they don't move you need to adjust them. Most if the are worn will kick up in the back
 
Here are three pics of the hinges. When wiggling the hood the hinge pins do move quite a bit. And when closing the hood as you can see, it stays up high and I have to push it to the right and down.

Probably need new hinges I would think.
 

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Now i give you a temporary fix. The problem is of course the riveted pivot. Shoved in to a hole hot and smashed tight. Then the spring is stretched tight when the hood is closed keeping max pressure on it. Designed to wear out. So clean up the hinges, presser washer and dawn soap to remove the grease. Open the hood till it puts the pin in a neutral position. Take the welder and run a bead around the riveted end you have now fixed the normal problem with this GM hinge. If you want to do it off the car just remove the spring and you can easily center the pivot pin. Clean things up repaint it if you want. The downer is you can see the bead.
 
You almost think GM had em made in China but not in that day. Just a way heavy hood with flimsey hinges Eds fix works well have done it here. Only caution is remove hood and hinge do welding on the bench saves sparks hitting the paint. Lube the heck out of the finished product. Those hinges were not painted but in old age painting helps
 
Back in the day, I bought and sold lots of seventies Cadillacs and have experienced this problem many times. Here is what we used to do, it might still work.

With the hood open, push the front of the hood up as far as you can, I mean as far as possible. When you close the hood, you should see the back of the hood in a proper position. You might have to repeat the process several times to get the hood to its correct position.

The best part is its free, requires no tools, or talent and I have seen it work many times.
 
What you are doing there is bending the webbing. One can do the same with shims between the hood and hinge. Taper the shims up with more in front. Works with them at first as they start to show wair. But once you see that movment you out of the simple stuff.
 
Windshields are WAY TOO EXPENSIVE to risk the yesterday repair. Take the time do the weld job to quote Fred Kanter at Kanter Auto "Do it once do it right". Or step up to the plate and have the hinge recon folks do it. Paint and glass are WAY TOO EXPENSIVE to risk a hinge coming apart and the way that hood is standing up on closing you are close.
 
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